South American High Gods.

Part I
Author(s): Mircea Eliade
Source: History of Religions, Vol. 8, No. 4 (May, 1969), pp. 338-354
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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 Mircea Eliade SOUTH A M E R I C A N
HIGH GODS

PART I

There are a limited number of approaches to the study of an

archaic religion, for every religion has a "center"-that is, a
characteristic understanding of the sacred. One can identify such
a "center" in various ways: by investigating the conceptions of
Supernatural Beings; by analyzing the cosmogonic myth and the
"sacred history" of the tribe (the creation of man, the myths of
origin, the dramatic modifications of the primordial state, etc.);
by grasping the specific experience of "being in the world" of a
particular people (orientatio, imago mundi, the religious relation
between man and Nature, etc.); or by examining the morphology
of the "experience of the sacred" and its different levels (that is,
also taking into consideration the experiences of the "specialists
of the sacred": medicine men, ecstatics, shamans, magicians, etc.).
From a certain point of view, all these "different" approaches
are interdependent. At the "center" of any religion one always
finds Supernatural Beings who made, modified, own, or control
the world in which man lives and the "sacred history" which
explains man's specific mode of existence and which discloses at the
same time the meaning or function of his experience of the sacred.
This is the first of a series of articles on South American religions, based on a
course given in 1964. I have added the footnotes and some bibliographical infor-
mation. I am grateful to my assistant, Mr. Norman J. Girardot, for his care in
correcting and stylistically improving the text.
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History of Religions

Choosing the most appropriate approach to perceive the

"center" of a religion is not always a matter of personal decision.
In studying "primitive" religions, the investigator must rely on
the quality and quantity of the available information. We know
now that in many cases the data are either hopelessly incomplete
or irremediably lost, since many tribes have disappeared or are in
a very advanced stage of acculturation. Besides this, the informa-
tion at our disposal, even when it is trustworthy and copious, is
never exhaustive. Not all the voyagers, missionaries, and field
anthropologists were interested in the same problems. Thus, in
some cases we are abundantly informed on magical practices and
demonical lore; in other instances we know the myths and legends
but very little of the rituals, etc. It is only in exceptionally rare
examples that we are told about the secret doctrines and ceremo-
nies, and it is very seldom that we are given a complete corpus of
beliefs and rituals.
The main consequence of this situation is that we must adapt
the investigation of religious structures to the quality and quantity
of the available documents. To give only a few examples with
reference to South American studies, it will be wise to focus on the
enormous mass of information on the Fuegians' religious ideas,
beliefs, and rituals collected by Martin Gusinde; the rich mytho-
logical lore brought together in the Enciclopedia bororo; the sur-
prisingly coherent integration of theology, cosmology, and ritual
life of the Kogi of Colombia as it was delineated by G. Reichel-
Dolmatoff; or the eschatology of the Guarani brilliantly studied by
Curt Nimuendaju and Egon Schaden. While concentrating on
those aspects of religious life which are most fully known, we
realize our ignorance with regard to numerous other tribes that
have vanished or are in the process of extinction.
I will begin with a brief presentation of the most prominent
Supernatural Beings: the High Gods, the Cosmic Deities, and the
Masters of Animals. But as I am not writing a history of South
American religions (I have neither the competence nor the inten-
tion), I will look only to some of the more outstanding and
characteristic examples. Supplementary source material will be
indicated in the bibliographical footnotes. Moreover, as we shall
see, shortly, the typology of the Supernatural Beings is not
immutable. A "High God" sometimes manifests qualities peculiar
to a Master of Animals, and vice versa. Such variations, coales-
cences, and transformations may reflect an original structural
ambivalence; they may indicate the well-known tendency of every
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South American High Gods

divine figure to incorporate other deities' attributes and preroga-

tives; or they may be the result of historical transformations. In
the rare cases where historical changes can be documented, I did
not hesitate to present them, for it is important to understand a
process of religious transformation, to discover its "causes," and
decipher its intention.
FUEGIAN HIGH GODS

According to Alfred Metraux, the belief in a High God, maker of

the Universe and of man, seems to have been general throughout
South America. "Because of the contrast between the loftiness of
this figure and the insignificance of his active part in religion, which
has often been pointed out, there is a tendency to consider him to
be no more than a mythical character. Nevertheless, even though
the Creator or Culture Hero usually keeps aloof from human
affairs, his remoteness is less absolute than our imperfect knowl-
edge of the Indian religious systems may lead us to suppose."1
M6traux cites traces of a cult to the Creator among certain tribes
like the Tupinamba and Guarayui. Prayers to such a High God are
also known.
The problem becomes acute when we learn that the belief in a
High God is one of the most fundamental religious ideas of the
Fuegian tribes-Ona, Yahgan, and Alacaluf-that is to say, the
most primitive tribes in South America.2 Metraux agrees with
Gusinde and Koppers (who from 1920 to 1926 collected evidence
about the Fuegian Supreme Being) that the Fuegian concept of a
High God is independent of any Christian influence.3 But many of
1 A. Metraux, in Julian H. Steward (ed.), Handbook of South American Indians
(Washington, D.C.: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1946-50), V, 559-60. This
six-volume work will hereafter be referred to as "Handbook."
2 For the most complete source book on South American ethnology, archeology,
linguistics, and physical anthropology, see the six volumes of Handbook. A sum-
mary of more recent research was presented by Wendell C. Bennett, "New World
Culture History: South America," in A. L. Kroeber (ed.), Anthropology Today
(Chicago, 1953), pp. 211-25. Cf. also Timothy Y. O'Leary, Ethnographic Biblio-
graphy of South America (New Haven, Conn., 1963). For the prehistory of South
America, see Oswald Menghin, "Vorgeschichte Amerikas," in Karl Y. Narr (ed.),
Abriss der Vorgeschichte (Miinchen, 1957), pp. 176-79, 190-200. The most recent
and comprehensive presentation of the South American religions is in Walter
Krickeberg, Hermann Trimborn, Werner Miiller, and Otto Zerries, Die Religionen
des alten Amerika (Stuttgart, 1961). (I am using the French translation by L. Jos-
pin, Les religions amerindiennes [Paris, 1962], of Zerries' text, pp. 327-465 in
Jospin).
3 From the numerous publications of Martin Gusinde, we shall mainly use Die
Feuerland-Indianer, Vol. I: Die Selk'nam (Modling and Vienna, 1931); Vol. II:
Die Yamana (1937); and his more popular expos6, Hombres primitivos en la
Tierra del Fuego (Sevilla, 1951). Wilhelm Koppers' most significant contributions
are Unter Feuerldndern (Stuttgart, 1924) and "Die Originalitiit des Hochgott-
glaubens der Yamana auf Feuerland," Tribus, Vol. IX. The relevant sources
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History of Religions

the High God traditions have been lost. Consequently, Metraux is

right in surmising that the reports obtained while both the
Yahgan and Ona tribes were on the verge of extinction "perhaps
give us the illusion of a more philosophical and abstract deity than
he actually was."4
According to Gusinde, the Fuegians believed in an invisible,
omniscient, and all-powerful Supreme Being who lived in the sky
beyond the stars. The Alacaluf call him Xelas (Xolas), "The
Star."5 He created the world, and although residing in a celestial
region, he is concerned with the daily life of mankind. Never
sleeping, he sees and knows everything that happens. He is the
one who makes a soul enter the body of each newborn child. At the
moment of death the soul rejoins Xolas in heaven, 6 and this detail
is important for comprehending the religious value of the soul. It
clearly indicates that the divinity is the source and creator of
human souls.
The Yahgan (Yamana) believe in a High God, Watauinewa
-"The Old One," "The Eternal"-who is also called by other
names meaning "The Powerful One," "The Highest One," and
especially "The Father." He is not the Creator of the Universe,
but only its master. He is also the owner and giver of animals7 as

available up to 1928 are analyzed by Wilhelm Schmidt, Ursprung der Gottesidee

(Munster, 1929), II, 875-1007. For the older sources, see John M. Cooper, Analyti-
cal and Critical Bibliography of the Tribes of Tierra del Fuego and Adjacent
Territory (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 63 [Washington, D.C., 1917]).
4 Metraux, in Handbook, V, 561.
5 The stars are the god's eyes; cf. Gusinde, Hombres primitivos, p. 320; Schmidt,
Ursprung, II, 969. Based mainly on Gusinde's preliminary publications, but also
on older sources, is R. Pettazzoni's "'Allwissende hochste Wesen bei primitivsten
Volkern," Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft, XXIX (1931), 209-43 (pp. 221-22
deal with Xolas' relation with the stars); idem, L'onniscienza di Dio (Torino, 1955),
pp. 617-18; idem, The All-knowing God (London, 1956), pp. 425-26.
6 Gusinde, "Elemente aus der Weltanschauung der Ona und Alakaluf,"
XXI Congress of International Americanists (Goteborg, 1925), I, 123-47, esp.
137-40; Junius Bird, in Handbook, V, 79. According to other sources, the southern
Alacaluf distinguish two gods; a benevolent one, Arcakercis, and an evil one,
Ali-Kirkcis; see Father A. de Agostini, I miei viaggi nella Terra del Fuoco (Torino,
1928), quoted by Pettazzoni, "Allwissende hochste Wesen," pp. 218-19, who sees
in this "dualism" the "usual doubling of the original sky-god with his two-sided
relations to the weather" (The All-knowing God, p. 423). The evil god is also known
under the name Taquatu (Tokuatu). He is a giant: "uomo molto grande e grosso,"
writes the Salesian, P. Maggiorino Borgatello, in Nella Terra del Fuoco (Torino,
1925), p. 31; a "great black man ... is supposed to be always wandering about the
woods and mountains" (R. Fitzroy, quoted by Pettazzoni, "Allwissende hochste
Wesen," p. 219). Taqu&tu takes and carries away men and women whom he finds
idle or inattentive; see Pettazzoni, L'onniscienza, p. 617, and The All-knowing
God, p. 323. The degree of acculturation of the few surviving Alacaluf is clearly
seen in J. Emperaire, Les nomades de la mer (Paris, 1955), pp. 248-71.
7 According to some myths, Watauinewa is the creator of the animals (see
below, n. 34).
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South American High Gods

well as useful plants. It is Watauinewa who bestows life on human

beings and takes it away. He lives above the heavens and is
essentially good and benevolent-although as the author of death,
he is insulted by funeral mourners after the death of a relative.
Furthermore, Watauinewa punishes by controlling the weather.8
He has no body, nor has he a wife or children. According to
Cooper, Watauinewa is "distinctly and eminently set off against
and above all other spirits, good and bad, and in this sense stood
as it were alone. He did not enter into the tribal folklore and
mythology."9 He surveys the acts of men and punishes those who
break the tribal laws (revealed by him in the beginnings) by
causing their early deaths or the deaths of their children.
Contrary to Xolas of the Alacalufs,10 Watauinewa plays a
central role in the puberty initiation rites. The Yahgans pray to
him for food, health, and for protection from the elements;
he also accepts their prayers of thankfulness. In the opinion of
Cooper, "a quite distinctive feature of Yahgan communication
with the Supreme Being was the frequency of complaint expres-
sions and charges directed toward him on the occasion of sickness,
bad weather or other evil fortune, and particularly on the occasion
of death."11 Taking into consideration all these archaic features
(and especially the fact that Watauinewa is not the Creator, but
only the master and owner of the Universe), Cooper does not doubt
that the Yahgan belief in a High God is aboriginal, and not the
result of the impact of the missionary endeavor. Moreover, this
belief was central in the religious life of the Yahgan; "it entered
deeply and dynamically in their thoughts, emotional life, and
personal behavior."'2
This can be seen from the role Watauinewa plays in the puberty
initiation rite (ciexais), which Cooper considered the most impor-
tant ceremony and the focal point of the Yahgan religious life. The
Yahgan believed that this rite was founded by Watauinewa him-
8 Cf. the information on the Fuegians brought to England in 1830 by R. Fitzroy,
Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle between the
Years 1826 and 1836 (London, 1839), II, 179-80. The text is quoted by Pettazzoni,
"Allwissende hochste Wesen," pp. 210-11; cf. also L'onniscienza, p. 620.
9 John M. Cooper, in Handbook, I, 102. But Gusinde noticed that Watauinewa
is also called Kespix, i.e., "spirit"; see Die Yamana, p. 1054. Snethlage pointed
out the consequence of this significant detail in his review of Gusinde's book
(Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, LXX [1938], 506). For Zerries, this is one more
argument against considering Watauinewa a "High God"; see Wild- und Busch-
geister in Sudamerika (Wiesbaden, 1954), p. 36.
10 The boys' initiation among the Alacaluf resembles that of the Yahgan, but
it is simpler; cf. Bird, "The Alacaluf," in Handbook, I, 72-76.
11 Cooper, in Handbook, I, 102.
12 Ibid.
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History of Religions

self.13 The ritual in which boys and girls were initiated together
consisted primarily in religious and moral instruction, dances, and
songs.14 Some of the practices recall typical puberty rites in other
cultures: the candidates have little sleep, little food and drink,
must work hard, and take a daily bath in cold seawater. They were
obliged to drink through a hollow bird bone, a custom which seems
to be archaic (during their initiation the Australian Narinyeri
novices suck water through a reed). Only after completing
the ciexais rite were the neophytes told the mythological tradi-
tions of the tribe. (The most important group of myths related
the adventures of the Yoalax brothers. The elder was stupid, the
younger was clever and intrepid; he was, in fact, a Culture Hero).
Another Supernatural Being plays a role during certain esoteric
moments of the initiation. He is Yetaita, characterized by Cooper
as the chief evil spirit, but considered by Gusinde and Haekel as
the Earth Spirit.15 According to Gusinde, Yetaita is impersonated
by one of the instructors who is painted red and white. While the
boys are segregated in a cabin, Yetaita springs from behind a
screen and attacks them. The instructors observe the strictest
secrecy concerning the appearance and actions of Yetaita and, in
general, concerning everything that takes place in the cabin.
Quite often Watauinewa and Yetaita are regarded as equal in
power. In at least one of the myths collected by Gusinde, Watauin-
ewa is identified with Yetaita.16 Such paradoxical identifications
are not infrequent in the history of religions. One possible explana-
tion may be historical: Yetaita was primarily the tribe's mythical
Ancestor, hence the initiatory master par excellence.17 But as the
ciexais ceremony was believed to have been established by
13 Gusinde, Die Yamana, p. 883.
14 On the Yahgan puberty rites, see Cooper, in Handbook, pp. 98 ff.; Gusinde,
Die Yamana, pp. 930 ff., and Hombres primitivos, pp. 265-98; S. K. Lothrop, The
Indians of Tierra del Fuego (New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, 1928), X, 165-69; Schmidt, Ursprung, II, 946-53, and Ursprung,
VI (Miinster, 1935), 458 ff.; Cooper, in Handbook, pp. 98-99; W. Koppers,
Primitive Man and His World Picture (London, 1952), pp. 140 ff.; M. Eliade,
Birth and Rebirth (New York, 1958), pp. 28-30; A. Oyarzun, "La institucion de la
iniciacion entre los Yagane," Revista chiliena de historia y geografia, No. 49 (1943),
pp. 318-62.
15 Cooper, in Handbook, I, 99; Gusinde, Die Yamana, pp. 942 ff.; Josef Haekel,
"Jugendweihe und Mannerfest auf Feuerland: Ein Beitrag zu ihrer Kultur-
historischen Stellung," Mitteilungen der oesterreichischen Gesellschaft f4r Anthro-
pologie, Ethnologie und Prdhistorie, LXXIII-LXXVII (1947), 84-114, esp. 89 ff.
16 Gusinde, Die Yamana, p. 884. But Gusinde's informants assert that this is
told only to the novices during the initiation in order to frighten them; in other
words, the adults do not believe in the "reality" of Yetaita. See also Gusinde,
"Offensichtlich ist Yetaita nur als Gespenst und imaginire Schreckgestalt
aufzufassen," Anthropos, LVIII (1963), 283.
17 Haekel, op. cit., p. 100; Eliade, op. cit., p. 29.
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South American High Gods

Watauinewa, Yetaita came to be considered another name, or

aspect, of the High God.

KINA AND KL6KETEN

Only the men who had passed twice through the ciexais rite could
take part in another secret ceremony, kina.1s This rite was con-
ducted by the shamans. The origin myth of the kina tells of an
earlier epoch when the women were the masters of the tribe. They
used masks to impersonate ghosts and terrorize the men. Eventu-
ally the Sun, who was an able hunter, discovered the hoax, that is,
that the masks were the women and not spirits. A terrible fight
between the sexes resulted, and, with the exception of very young
girls, all the women were killed. Lem and his wife, Hanuxa,
ascended to heaven and became the Sun and the Moon.19 (We find
a similar myth in some parts of Australia: in the beginning, the
women were in the possession of the magico-religious tools and
powers).20 During the kina, the women were kept isolated in a
large conical tent. Painted and wearing conical masks of bark or
sealskin (i.e., impersonating the spirits), the men sang and danced
in front of the women, threatening them with terrible punishment
if they did not submit to their will.
Watauinewa does not appear in this ceremony which is typical
of male secret society rituals. A similar situation is to be found
among the third Fuegian tribe, the Ona (or Selk'nam), Their most
important social and religious ceremony, called kl6keten, serves as
a puberty initiation for boys (corresponding to the ciexais) and, at
the same time, as a male secret society ritual. But in this important
religious ceremony, which lasted sometimes from three to six
months, the High God as well as the Culture Hero are absent. The
myth and ritual pattern of kloketen resemble the Yahgan kina. As
a matter of fact, the kina was certainly borrowed from the
Selk'nam kloketen. In the beginning-under the leadership of Kra,
the Moon Woman, a powerful sorceress-women terrorized the

18 Cooper, in Handbook, pp. 104 ff. This ritual corresponds to the yinchihana
of the Alacaluf (ibid., p. 96) and the kldketen of the Ona (ibid., p. 120). On the kina,
see also Lothrop, op. cit., pp. 170-71; A. Oyarzun, "La fiesta de la kina," Revista
chiliena de historia y geographia, CV (1945), 126-53; Oskar Eberle, Cenalora:
Leben, Glaube, Tanz und Theater der Urvolker (Olten and Freiburg in Breisgau,
1955), pp. 186-247; cf. ibid., pp. 262-306, on kl6keten.
19 Lothrop, op. cit., p. 177; E. Lucas Bridge, The Uttermost Part of the Earth
(New York, 1948), pp. 412-14. According to the version published by Gusinde,
the women and part of the men were transformed into animals; see Die Yamana,
pp. 1337 ff.
20 See M. Eliade, "Australian Religions, Part III: Initiation Rites and Secret
Societies," History of Religions, VII (1967), 86-90.
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History of Religions

men through their ability to change themselves into "spirits," that

is, they knew the arts of making and using masks. But one day
Kran, the Sun Man, discovered the women's secret. Infuriated, the
men killed all the women except the little girls. Since then, the men
have organized the secret ceremonies of kloketen, using masks and
dramatic rituals to frighten the women. During the ceremonies, an
evil female spirit, Xalpen, tortures the initiates and "kills" them;
but another spirit, Olim, a great medicine man, resuscitates them.21
Metraux noticed that the myth of the rebellion of the men
against the women's rule was widespread in the Amazon basin.22
Moreover, Josef Haekel has convincingly documented the structu-
ral interrelation of such types of male secret societies with a
superior planters' culture.23 We cannot insist here on the religious
meaning and historical stratification of South American patterns
of initiation.24 It suffices to note that, following the Ona's arrival
and installation in their actual tribal territory,25 they influenced
the Yahgan and, among other things, transmitted to them the
institution of the male secret society.
The fact that the High Being is absent from this ceremony indi-
cates both his otiositas and the progressively elaborate complexity
of the kloketen rituals. (Indeed, the coalescence of the puberty rites
with initiation into a male secret society denotes a long process of
transformation, usually stemming from the impact of a higher
culture.) The Supreme Being is seldom mentioned by his name,
Temaukel. Usually the Ona refer to him as "That One there above"
or "The One in Heaven."26 Temaukel existed forever and is

21 See M. Eliade, Birth and Rebirth, pp. 29-30; Lothrop, op. cit., pp. 92-95. The
lodge in which part of the initiation was held was called hain, a word certainly
connected with kina, the Yahgan term for the initiation hut (Lothrop, op. cit.,
p. 94). Moreover, the masks are tall and conical, similar to the Yahgan (see
Lothrop, op. cit., pp. 170-71, figs. 92 and 93). The names and function of the
characters impersonated with masks are given by Barclay and Cojazzi (in Lothrop,
op. cit., pp. 94-95); but the most elaborate description is to be found in Gusinde,
Die Selk'nam, pp. 840 ff., 921 ff., 949 ff.
22 Metraux, "A Myth of the Chamacoco Indians and Its Social Significance,"
Journal of American Folklore, LVI (1943), 113-19, esp. 118.
23 Haekel, op. cit., p. 111.
24 See Ibid., pp. 102-7; Metraux, "Boys' Initiation Rites," in Handbook, V,
372-82; Lowrie, in Handbook, V, 336-39.
25 According to Junius Bird, the Ona's ancestors came to their actual territory
circa 1000 A.D.; the Yamana were already there at least one thousand years
earlier; see Bird, "Antiquity and Migrations of the Early Inhabitants of Patagonia,"
Geographical Review, XXVIII (1938), 250-75. Antonio Serrano, Los aborigines
argentinos: Sintesis etnogrdfica (Buenos Aires, 1947), pp. 225 ff., asserts that
racially, linguistically, and culturally the Ona belong to the Patagonians (or
Ch6necas).
26 On Temaukel, see Gusinde, Die Selk'nam, pp. 485 ff., and Gusinde, "Das
hochste Wesen bei den Selk'nam auf Feuerland," in W. Schmidt Festschrift
(Vienna, 1928), pp. 269-74. The earlier accounts are quoted and discussed by
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South American High Gods
omnipotent. He is bodiless and possesses neither a wife or children.
Living above the stars, he is rather indifferent to worldly affairs
and men's doings. Probably he is the Creator of the Universe, but
he did not finish his cosmogonic work. He commissioned Kenos,
the Ona's mythical Ancestor, to shape the world (for instance, he
raised the sky) and to teach the sociomoral order to the tribe.27
Though Temaukel does not take part in the affairs of men, he is
the overseer of the moral and religious laws, and also imposes
sanctions against transgressors. Punishment was inflicted only in
this life, through illness and early death. The soul went to Tem-
aukel at his abode beyond the stars. Very little is known of the
postmortem fate of the soul, but it seems to have been the same for
all men, regardless of their religious and moral behaviour on earth.
Cooper remarks that "while Temaukel thus had some dynamic
relation to man and to social order, in many respects he entered
much less intimately into the daily life of the Ona than did the
Yahgan's Supreme Being into theirs."28 According to Lothrop, the
everyday religious life was subsumed into the activities of a number
of Nature spirits (spirits of trees, lakes, mountains, and animals) and
ghosts of mighty shamans.29 With the exception of two simple
offerings, which appear to be almost meaningless fossils, there is no
set ritual connected with Temaukel. When someone wished to eat
something at night, he or she would first take out a bit of meat and
throw it out of the hut, saying: "This is for the One Above." The
second ritual offering takes place during a tempest or snowstorm:
a woman throws out a piece of glowing coal as an offering to
Temaukel to bring better weather.
There are quite a number of important mythological cycles in
which Temaukel enters only indirectly, as in the case of K6nos, the
mythical Ancestor who was Temaukel's agent.30

Schmidt, Ursprung, II, 887-91; Pettazzoni, "Allwissende hochste Wesen," pp.

223-28, L'onniscienza, pp. 615-16, and The All-knowing God, pp. 422-23. Jose
Maria Beauvoir asserts that Pimaukel (sic!) was the mythical first man, endowed
with certain creative powers. It is he who created a number of animals and plants;
see Los Shelknam, indigenas de la Tierra del Fuego (Buenos Aires, 1915), p. 166.
But in this tradition we have most probably a coalescence between Temaukel and
Kenos, the Cultural Hero and mythical Ancestor of the Selk'nam.
27 The myths of Kenos are collected by Gusinde, Die Selk'nam, pp. 571 ff.; see
also Gusinde, Hombres primitivos, pp. 396 ff. There is also an elaborate mythologi-
cal cycle of another Cultural Hero, Kuanip. Among his fabulous deeds it is signifi-
cant that he transformed various people into animals; see Lothrop, op. cit., pp.
99 ff., which reproduces the account of Antonio Cojazzi, "Los indios del archipelago
fueguino," Revista chiliena de historia y geografia, IX-X (1914), 351 ff. See also
Serrano, op. cit., p. 229.
28 Cooper, in Handbook, I, 123.
29 Lothrop, op. cit., p. 96.
30 Cooper, in Handbook, pp. 124 ff., using Gusinde's information.
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History of Religions

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

This rapid survey suffices to illustrate the complexity of the

Fuegian High Gods. Their names and attributes disclose a celestial
transcendence: "The Star" (Alacaluf), "The One in Heaven,"
"That One there above" (Ona), "The Highest One" (Yahgan).
Their spiritual nature, eternity, and omnipotence are clearly
attested. But only Xolas is regarded as the author of the Universe.
Even though Temaukel probably initiated the cosmogonic process,
it was his agent, Kenos, who completed it. And Watauinewa is said
to be the owner and master of the Universe, but not its maker.
In regard to the creation of man, the information is scanty and
vague. The Alacaluf believe that Xolas sends a soul into every
newborn baby, but a clear myth of the origin of man is lacking.
We meet with a similar tradition among the Yahgan: Watauinewa
bestows life on human beings and takes it away. According to the
Ona, it was not the High God who made the first men, but Kenos.
(Like Temaukel, Kenos was without a wife, and after completing
his demiurgic and civilizing mission, he climbed back to heaven.
Though playing a significant part in the myths, Kenos has no
ritual of his own.)31
Each of the three Fuegian groups recognizes that the High God
is concerned with human behavior and fate, but not in the same
degree. The information about Xolas of the Alacaluf is rather
unclear, but it seems that he was not a deus otiosus. Temaukel does
not interfere with men's actions; nevertheless he watches them
and punishes transgression by illness or by early death. Likewise,
Watauinewa punishes those who break his commandments by
causing the early death of their children. Moreover, the role of
these High Gods in everyday religious life differs from one tribe to
another. No prayers or rituals are known in relation to Xolas. The
puberty ceremonies of the Alacaluf were extremely simple, but
Xolas was not a participant. However, the fact that the Alacaluf
believed that Xolas provides a soul for every newborn child and
that after death souls rejoin him in heaven proves not only the
highly spiritual nature of the god but also his mastery over life and
death. One can perceive in this belief the idea that human souls
are of a divine origin and that there is a purely spiritual post-
existence (that is, in heaven, in proximity to the god).
Temaukel is prayed to only in case of illness: "Thou, on high, do
not take my child; he is still too small."32 The two types of offer-
31 Gusinde, Die Selk'nam, pp. 574-75, 576-79.
32 Gusinde, "Das hochste Wesen," pp. 272-73.
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South American High Gods

ings which he receives look like survivals of an earlier and more

coherent form of worship. The fact that offerings are made during
tempests indicates the celestial-atmospheric structure of Temau-
kel; he is not only an eternal and omnipotent God withdrawn in
the sky, he is also the master and controller of the weather. But
neither Temaukel nor his agent, Kenos, takes part in the complex
and dramatic secret rituals, kloketen. In addition to this, and
contrary to K6nos, Temaukel is absent even in the myth.
As Cooper has already remarked, Watauinewa was intimately
involved in the cultic life of the Yahgan. He is the center of the
puberty initiation ceremony which he established; he is prayed to
for food, health, and protection; he receives prayers of thankful-
ness. But, on the other hand, he is subject to complaints and even
direct requests in the case of illness, misfortune, inclement
weather, and especially death. This "familiarity" with a High God
certainly proves his real and persistent presence in the religious
life of the tribe; but it also indicates his loss of transcendence (a
process already hinted at by the fact that he is not considered the
maker of the Universe, but only its owner and master). Thus,
Watauinewa is not the sole controller of the ciexais rites. During
the esoteric moments of the initiation, the Evil (or Earth) Spirit,
Yetaita, is the central figure; he is even impersonated by one of the
instructors. Now, Yetaita is sometimes considered equal in power
with Watauinewa; and, in some myths, these two Supernatural
Beings are identified. Watauinewa is the owner of the animals and
he makes sure that men do not destroy them indiscriminately.33
Since in one myth, admittedly rather confused, he is supposed to
have created all of the animals, Zerries surmised that Watauinewa
was originally a Master of Animals.34 Whatever might have been
the case, the relation of Watauinewa to the animal world added to
his panoply of specific traits, and indicates the complexity of this
Supreme Being.
In conclusion, it appears that the belief in High Gods did not
exhaust the religious life of the Fuegians. The more a High God
was considered as creator, eternal, omnipotent, the more he be-
came aloof, and almost non-existent in the cult and mythology.
The most active and powerful of the Fuegian High Gods, Watauin-
ewa, seems the least majestic. One has the impression that he
33 Gusinde, Die Yamana, pp. 1050 ff.
34 Zerries, Wild- und Buschgeister, pp. 35-36. See also Zerries, "Wildbeuter und
Jiigertum in Siidamerika-ein Uberblick," Paideuma, VIII, Heft 2 (December,
1962), 98-114, esp. 102-3. We shall examine the relation between High Gods and
the Masters of Animals in a forthcoming article.
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History of Religions

maintained his religious actuality by assimilating elements

originally independent of a celestial and omnipotent High Being.
The fact that he was not regarded as the creator of the world, but
only its master, discloses the interest of the Yahgan in the actual
life and order of the Universe. One is reminded of the importance
assumed by Baal or Zeus at the expense of El and Ouranos: the
fertility gods and the cosmocrators supplanted the old cosmogonic
Supreme Beings.
It is probable that the differences among the Fuegian High Gods
were increased by a historical process. Although at the present
time the basis and the course of these transformations escape our
possibilities of inquiry, some inferences can be attempted. For
instance, one may safely assume that the rituals of the male secret
societies reflect a later cultural stage. It is most likely that these
secret ceremonies represent influences from a higher culture. Josef
Haekel postulates that the "terrorization" of women is a develop-
ment of an earlier situation-a period when, during the initiation,
the men separated the boys from the girls on the grounds that
dealing with supernatural realities (spirits, cult of the ancestors,
etc.) was dangerous for the women.35 But a religious tension
between the sexes eventually supplanted this earlier situation. It
was this social and religious antagonism that was expanded in the
course of time, while earlier religious ideas and practices faded
away and finally disappeared. Such an attraction to pathetic and
violent rituals is not without significance for the understanding of
Fuegian and other primitive religions. Even an active divine
Being like Watauinewa was kept far away from the intensely
emotional rituals of the men's secret societies.36
There are also other elements in the Fuegian religion which we
must consider in order to fathom its archaism. The shamanistic
initiation and practices follow an archaic pattern: the seclusion of
the candidate in a hut; the rubbing of the face until a second and
even a third skin appears which is visible only to the initiates; the
interpretation of sickness as the "loss of the soul," etc.37 No less
significant is the tradition of the descent of the mythical ancestor
35 Haekel, op. cit., pp. 101 ff.
36 Schmidt compared the Fuegian with the most "primitive" among the North
American tribes in order to prove their original archaism; cf. Ursprung, II, 1000-
1033. E. M. Loeb, on the contrary, derived the High Gods of both North and
South America from the religious ideas of the Mesoamerican civilizations; see
"The Religious Organizations of North Central California and Tierra del Fuego,"
American Anthropologist, N.S. (1931), pp. 517-56. This hypothesis, discussed also
by Schmidt, Ursprung der Gottesidee (Miinster, 1935), VI, 111 ff., is not convincing.
37 See M. Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (New York, 1964),
pp. 131, 153, 327.
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 South American High Gods

from the sky by means of a rope which breaks and forces him to
remain on earth.38 This myth is found in the Tibetan pre-Buddhist
religion,39 and it belongs to a cosmological and theological complex
which is certainly archaic.40 We may also include the myth of
animals ascending to heaven and becoming stars and planets, a
mythical motif characteristic of the hunter cultures.41

HISTORICAL PROBLEMS

Initially, it would have been more consistent to limit our analysis

of the South American High Gods to the pre-agricultural societies.
Of course, few tribes of food gatherers and hunters are without
influences from planter cultures. On the other hand, many
cultivators have kept portions of the religious world view of the
hunters. In some cases, a religious conception structurally and
genetically related to a hunter culture is unexpectedly well
preserved by an agricultural tribe (e.g., the Mundurucu). Among
many tribes, agricultural rituals have been constructed from
earlier hunting rites and food gatherers' ceremonial offerings-and
this is true for the two American continents. South American
cultures present both syncretistic and decadent aspects. Such a
situation forces the historian of religions to arrange his materials
in a less rigid way.
Metraux and Zerries have stressed the fact that the belief in
High Gods, although not universal and (at least in Zerries' view)
not representative of the oldest form of religion, is to be found at
all levels of culture among South American tribes. Influences from
the highly civilized Andeans and from the early missions must also
always be kept in mind. In regard to the "marginal" peoples, the
situation is less distinct. Cooper asserts that their culture is
retarded, not degenerate.42 But we must remember that a cultural
pauperization and the consequent "simplification" of religious
patterns may have taken place within some marginal tribes.
All this will become clearer as we proceed in our analysis of the
High Gods. Their rich morphology, which involves a coexistence,
or even coalescence, with other divine figures (for instance, Lord

38 Lothrop, op. cit., p. 98.

39 See Eliade, Shamanism, pp. 430 ff., and Eliade, Mephistopheles et I 'Androgyne
(Paris, 1962), pp. 207 ff.
40 See the documents discussed in Mephistopheles et l'Androgyne, pp. 210-37.
41 See Otto Zerries, "Sternbilder als Ausdruck jiigerischer Geisteshaltung in
Siidamerika," Paideuma, Vol. V, No. 5 (1952).
42 See J. M. Cooper, Temporal Sequence and the Marginal Cultures (Washington,
D.C., 1941); Cooper, "Areal and Temporal Aspects of Aboriginal South American
Culture," Primitive Man, XV (1942), 1-38.
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History of Religions

of Animals or solar gods), constitutes a still unresolved problem

for the historian of religions.

ARAUCANIANS-GODS AND RITUALS

We know very little of the religions of the northern neighbors of

the Fuegians, the Patagonians. Traces of a belief in a High God are
found among the Tehuelches. But he was already a deus otiosus,
for, though favorable to men, he had no cult and was not regarded
as the Creator of the Universe or the originator of moral laws. He
was known more as a god of the dead.43
The religious situation among the Araucanians of Chile and
Argentina, which is known to be influenced by the Andean civiliza-
tion, was quite different. The Araucanians celebrate the cult of a
Supreme Being, addressed as Ngenechen, "Master of Men," or
"Master of the Land," "Father," or "Blue (sky) King Father."44
He was looked upon as the creator of everything which exists, the
giver of life and fertility to man, animals, and plants. He was an
active deity, controlling Nature and directly concerned with the
destiny of man. According to some information, Ngenechen lived
in volcanoes and had a wife and children, but no parents. He was
prayed to for food and life, but not for forgiveness. As a matter of
fact, he was not concerned with spiritual life or the moral order,
and the postmortem situation did not depend on his rewards and
punishments.
The older sources speak of Pillan, a god who has his throne in
the middle of the sky45 and manifests his will and power through
lightning, inundations, and cosmic catastrophes. According to
other reports, he inhabits mountains or volcanoes.46 But in a
document of 1827, Pillan is described as the spirit par excellence;

43 Cooper, in Handbook, I, 157; Zerries, Les religions amerindiennes, p. 337. We

must also keep in mind the lack of precision of the term "tehuelche," used
indiscriminately to describe different populations of Patagonia and Pampas; cf.
Federico A. Escalada, El complejo "tehuelche": Estudios de etnografia patagonica
(Buenos Aires, 1949), pp. xiv-xv, 23, 27 ff.
44 But he is also called "Young-man Ngenechen-young-woman-Ngenechen," or
"Ancient-king-above-ancient-Queen-above," or "Blue (sky)-King-Father-Blue
(sky)-Queen-Mother." On these and other names of the God, see Rodolfo M.
Casamiquella, Estudio del nillatun y la religion araucana (Bahia Blanca, 1964),
pp. 182 ff., where all the important sources are quoted. Casamiquella observes
that the androgynous character of Ngenechen and Pillan does not appear in the
oldest documents (ibid., p. 189). Most probably, the bisexuality represents an
Andean influence.
45 See the sources quoted by Casamiquella, op. cit., pp. 167 ff. In the Sermones
of P. Luis de Valdivia (1621), reproduced by F. de Augusta and S. de Fraunhiusl,
Lecturas araucanos (Padre Las Casas, 1934), p. 213, it is said that "Pillan truena en
el cielo," etc.
46 Casamiquella, op. cit., p. 170, quoting C6rdova y Figueroa.
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 South American High Gods

he is the Chief (Toqui) who is eternal and omnipotent and has

under his power the other minor deities.47 A large number of
sources insist on the absence of a specific cult to Pillan, and we may
safely assume that Pillan was the predecessor and the model of
Ngenechen. Casamiquella notices that all the attributes ascribed to
Pillan in older times are now conferred on Ngenechen, and vice
versa.48
There is no doubt that contact with the Andean and Christian
cultures drastically modified the original structure of Pillan-
Ngenechen. The incongruities and contradictions evident in the
sources reflect, at least in part, the different moments of this
continuous transformation. (Such a process is well known in the
history of religions; one need only compare the description of
Zalmoxis by Herodotus and Strabo.) On the other hand, we should
keep in mind that in the early missionaries' presentation of "pagan"
gods and "diabolical" rituals, they utilized the cliches borrowed
from the old heresiologues and from some medieval reports on the
conversion of northern European populations. The ultimate source
of such cliches was obviously a mixture of the Old Testament
religious vocabulary and the, once very popular, interpretatio
graeca and interpretatio latina.
But this does not depreciate the value of our oldest documents.
Although the influence of the higher, Andean culture and of
Christianity was considerable, it did not erase the fundamental
pattern of the aboriginal religions. As we shall see, a number of
rather archaic elements survived until recently. The great interest
of the Araucanian religion resides primarily in the fact that the
changes of the last few centuries represent not only a passive
47 G. Salusti, Storie delle missioni apostoliche dello stato del Chile (Roma, 1827),
II, 118; the text is reproduced in Augusta and Franhausl, op. cit., p. 222, and
translated in Casamiquella, op. cit., pp. 178-79. This is the reason why Pillan was
equated by some authors with the idea of "soul"; see Casamiquella, op. cit., pp.
167 ff. Augusta also quotes from an unpublished manuscript of R. P. Octaviano
de Nizza, who worked among the Araucanians between 1853 and 1873 (date of his
death), that the Araucanians have three gods: Ngenechen, all knowing and all
powerful, without cult; Pilldn, who is described as being the god of only the
Araucanians (and not universal, like Ngenechen); Huecufii, the god of evil, who
is invisible and to whom most of the sacrifices are offered. See Augusta and Fraun-
hausl, op. cit., p. 228, and Casamiquella, op. cit., pp. 176-77. Most probably, we
are confronted here with the same deity, seen under different aspects (see below,
p. 352 f.).
48 Casamiquella, op. cit., p. 184. The structural identity between Pillan and
Ngenechen has been pointed out by Latcham in 1924; by Cooper, in Handbook, II,
748 ff.; by Carlos Keller in his introduction to the new edition of Jose Toribio
Medina's Los aborigines de Chile (Santiago de Chile, 1952), p. lxix; by Serrano,
op. cit., p. 339. Casamiquella quotes a prayer of the machi during the ngillatin
(see below, p. 353) in which the verb pilldnhtn (oracidn de oficio) is used with regard
to Ngenechen.
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History of Religions

assimilation of external elements but also a new and creative

integration of traditional structures and values.
This is evident in the surprising richness of Ngenechen's cult.
Private practices centering around Ngenechen included prayers,
first-fruit offerings, and the occasional sacrifice of animals. Before
eating or drinking, a small amount of meat or liquid was offered to
the god with a short prayer asking him to continue giving food and
drink. The public cult, ngillatun, consisted of the erection of a
quadrangular platform (which served as a sort of altar), sacrifices
of animals, dancing and singing, and prayers to the Supreme Being
(particularly for food, good weather, increase of the flocks and
herds, and for the long life and welfare of all the members of the
community). In some cases the machi (shamans and shamanesses)
took a leading part by ascending the rewe (a thick pole or log firmly
imbedded in earth) and ecstatically praying to the Supreme Being.
I have discussed elsewhere the machi's initiation and the ngil-
latun ceremony;49 I will therefore restrict my observations to the
general theme of this article. The ngillatun seems to be aboriginal
and characteristic of the Araucanians. Some of its features (for
example, the sacrifice of animals) were described already in the
first decades following contact with the Europeans. But the mod-
ern form of the rite appears to be much more recent. Indeed, the
"agrarization" of the ngillatun has been emphasized by a great
number of authors. Most of the prayers are offered for rain,
fertility, and good fortune.50 Among the Araucanians of Argentina,
the ceremony almost became periodic, and the ritual climbing of
the rewe has been abandoned. Consequently, the role of the Argen-
tinian machi became less important than among the Araucanians
of Chile.51
Nevertheless, some archaic elements still survive (leaving aside
the most evident ones: the machi's shamanistic initiation, his-or
her-ecstasis, the ritual ascension of the rewe, etc.). For instance,
the decision to perform a ngillatun is said to be the result of a
vision or a dream;52 the machi's assistants, the piwichen, have a
mythological model;53 the tradition that the first ngillatun (with
49 Eliade, Shamanism, pp. 122 ff., 324 ff. See Casamiquella, op. cit., pp. 15-161;
V. A. Hassler, Nguillatunes del Neuquen (Buenos Aires, 1957).
50 Some of the prayers were translated from the Araucanian by Augusta and
Fraunhiusl, op. cit., pp. 256 ff. See also Casamiquella, op. cit., pp. 155-58, quoting
Augusta and Robles Rodriguez.
51 Cf. Casamiquella, op. cit., p. 42.
52 E. W. de Moesbach, Vida y costumbres de los indigenos araucanos en la
segunda midad del siglo XIX (Santiago, 1936), p. 372; Rodriguez, quoted by
Casamiquella, op. cit., pp. 37-38.
53 See the sources in Casamiquella, op. cit., pp. 44 ff., esp. 48-49.
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South American High Gods

an orphan girl as a victim) took place during a deluge, the function

of the ceremony being to "recreate" the world or to protect it
against a future catastrophe (this motif is certainly archaic).
Finally, the type of sacrifice practiced shows how impervious the
ngillatun was to more than two centuries of Christian propaganda.
Originally, the victim was human, and only later were animals
used; but, in both cases, the heart of the victim was pulled out and
touched by all those present. Casamiquella does not feel that this
type of sacrifice is a proof of "agrarization," but rather is a kind of
mystical communion-the heart being considered by the Arauca-
nians as the place of force and nobleness. An additional argument
against the "agrarian" interpretation is that no document
indicates either the burial of the victim's body in the fields
or the scattering of the ashes.54
Another important ceremony, held at the winter solstice, was a
New Year ritual. The original idea of cosmic regeneration was still
discernible in the collective bath and the prayers to the Supreme
Being.
The Araucanian example is significant, for it illustrates some of
the conditions by which a High God is able to retain his religious
actuality within a population which has undergone a long period
of acculturation. Cooper traced the concept of Supreme Being
back at least a century and a half. But since even before the middle
of the eighteenth century the Araucanians were open to European
influence, Cooper came to the conclusion that it is impossible to
decide how much the Supreme Being was refashioned under the
influence of Christian ideas. Even without taking into considera-
tion the Christian influence, it is clear that the original concept of
the High God underwent considerable transformation. Owing to
his powers over, and control of, Nature, the cult of the High God
was increasingly modified and elaborated. Characteristically
enough, though he was not concerned with spiritual values and
made no decision on man's destiny after death, the High God-
Pillan or Ngenechen-was nevertheless the object of prayers and
sacrifices. His cult evolved to what we may call a cosmic religion.
Indeed, Ngenechen was regarded not only as the Creator of the
world, but especially the source of life and fertility, the giver of
food, good fortune, and health.
54 Ibid., pp. 117-20. On the Araucanian human sacrifices, see the sources in
Medina, Los aborigenes de Chile, pp. 232 ff. See also Mischa Titiev, "Araucanian
Culture in Transition," Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Bulletin
15 (1951), esp. pp. 129 ff., on the superficial and ineffective "Christianization" of
the Araucanians of Chile.
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